A. There is NO increase in the Local
Income Tax rate! The most important Business Plan components are
funded by using some of the annual revenue increases from the existing 1.0% Local Income Tax
rate and by making prudent use of the ample cash reserves in the County Rainy Day Fund.

B. Ten more new corrections officers (jailers) are hired in 2017.

C. Hiring ten new corrections officers (jailers) in 2017 will free
up the equivalent of one Merit Deputy to perform law enforcement duties each day
instead of transporting inmates. The hiring of seven more new Merit Deputies
will be phased in: one in 2017, one in 2018, two in 2019, two in 2020, and one
in 2021. Two additional Merit Deputies can be assigned in 2017 to augment the
existing two Merit Deputies working on the higher risk second shift.

D. A Crime Analyst is hired in 2017.

E. Funding is provided starting in 2017 for a contract with an
outside agency to provide a Masters level therapist for 40 hours per week and a
Doctors level therapist for 6 to 8 hours per week to assist jail inmates with
their mental health and drug addiction needs.

F. Equipment and training are funded in 2017 for a Criminal
Interdiction Team.

G. Funding is provided in 2017 to remodel the jail basement and add
an office for the Sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Division, Crime Scene
Investigator, and Crime Analyst.

H. A room in the jail will be remodeled in 2017 to serve as a
dedicated computer servers room.

I. One more new Courthouse Deputy and the necessary equipment will
be provided in 2018 to establish a protected single-entry point to the
Courthouse where persons entering the Courthouse will pass through a metal
detector and all bags will be X-rayed.

J. Some lower priority Business Plan components are not funded
before 2022.

The detailed Taxpayer Friendly funding proposals for the Business
Plan are listed next. NOTE: A 3.0% annual increase is assumed in the cost of the
Business Plan components.

Proposal #1. Transfer $171,151 from the County Health Fund cash
reserves to the County General Fund. The County Health Fund received an
unplanned cash windfall a couple of prior years when duplicate property tax
health insurance revenue was erroneously collected and deposited. The cash
reserves left in the County Health Fund after the $171,151 transfer will still
total a healthy 28% of the 2016 County Health Fund operating disbursements.

Proposal #3. Use $167,400 from the County Rainy Day Fund in 2017 to
pay the new non-recurring Business Plan costs listed below. The County Rainy Day
Fund balance at the end of the year will be a considerable $3,589,098.
$ 37,900 equipment/uniforms for 10 more jailers$ 8,500 bullet proof vests for 10 more jailers
$ 9,093 equipment/uniform for 1 more merit deputy
$ 48,057 equipped vehicle for 1 more merit deputy
$ 850 bullet proof vest for 1 more merit deputy$ 10,000 criminal interdiction team equipment and training
$ 50,000 jail basement remodel$ 3,000 jail computer servers room
$167,400 TOTAL 2017 non-recurring costs

Proposal #4. Use $369,092 of the revenue increase in the 2018
County General Fund from the existing 1.00% Local Income Tax to (a) cover the
shortfall from the non-recurring revenues assigned to the prior Business Plan
costs and (b) pay for the new recurring annual Business Plan costs listed below.
$ 50,147 salary for 1 more merit deputy
$ 17,752 county pension for 1 more merit deputy
$ 3,836 FICA for 1 more merit deputy
$ 44,492 health insurance for 1 more merit deputy
$ 39,176 salary for 1 more courthouse deputy
$ 4,388 PERF retirement for 1 more courthouse deputy
$ 2,997 FICA for 1 more courthouse deputy$ 30,018 health insurance for 1 more courthouse deputy
$192,806 TOTAL 2018 recurring annual costs

Proposal #5. Use $116,020 from the County Rainy Day Fund in 2018 to
pay the new non-recurring Business Plan costs listed below. The County Rainy Day
Fund balance at the end of the year will be a considerable $3,473,078.
$ 9,366 equipment/uniform for 1 more merit deputy
$ 49,498 equipped vehicle for 1 more merit deputy
$ 876 bullet proof vest for 1 more merit deputy$ 3,904 equipment/uniform for 1 more courthouse deputy
$ 876 bullet proof vest for 1 more courthouse deputy$ 51,500 courthouse security equipment
$116,020 TOTAL 2018 non-recurring costs

Proposal #6. Use $421,003 of the revenue increase in the 2019
County General Fund from the existing 1.00% Local Income Tax to (a) cover the
shortfall from the non-recurring revenues assigned to the prior Business Plan
costs and (b) pay for the new recurring annual Business Plan costs listed below.
$103,303 salaries for 2 more merit deputies
$ 36,569 county pensions for 2 more merit deputies
$ 7,902 FICA for 2 more merit deputies$ 91,654 health insurance for 2 more merit deputies
$239,428 TOTAL 2019 recurring annual costs

Proposal #7. Use $123,066 from the County Rainy Day Fund in 2019 to
pay the new non-recurring Business Plan costs listed below. The County Rainy Day
Fund balance at the end of the year will be a considerable $3,350,012.
$ 19,294 equipment/uniforms for 2 more merit deputies
$101,967 equipped vehicles for 2 more merit deputies$ 1,805 bullet proof vests for 2 more merit deputies
$123,066 TOTAL 2019 non-recurring costs

Proposal #8. Use $433,633 of the revenue increase in the 2020
County General Fund from the existing 1.00% Local Income Tax to (a) cover the
shortfall from the non-recurring revenues assigned to the prior Business Plan
costs and (b) pay for the new recurring annual Business Plan costs listed below.
$106,402 salaries for 2 more merit deputies
$ 37,666 county pensions for 2 more merit deputies
$ 8,139 FICA for 2 more merit deputies$ 94,404 health insurance for 2 more merit deputies
$246,611 TOTAL 2020 recurring annual costs

Proposal #9. Use $123,066 from the County Rainy Day Fund in 2020 to
pay the new non-recurring Business Plan costs listed below. The County Rainy Day
Fund balance at the end of the year will be a considerable $3,226,946.
$ 19,873 equipment/uniforms for 2 more merit deputies
$105,026 equipped vehicles for 2 more merit deputies$ 1,859 bullet proof vests for 2 more merit deputies
$123,066 TOTAL 2020 non-recurring costs

Proposal #10. Use $319,638 of the revenue increase in the 2021
County General Fund from the existing 1.00% Local Income Tax to (a) cover the
shortfall from the non-recurring revenues assigned to the prior Business Plan
costs and (b) pay for the new recurring annual Business Plan costs listed below.
$ 54,797 salary for 1 more merit deputy
$ 19,398 county pension for 1 more merit deputy
$ 4,192 FICA for 1 more merit deputy$ 48,618 health insurance for 1 more merit deputy
$127,005 TOTAL 2021 recurring annual costs

Proposal #11. Use $65,280 from the County Rainy Day Fund in 2021 to
pay the new non-recurring Business Plan costs listed below. The County Rainy Day
Fund balance at the end of the year will be a considerable $3,161,666.
$10,235 equipment/uniform for 1 more merit deputy
$54,088 equipped vehicle for 1 more merit deputy$ 957 bullet proof vest for 1 more merit deputy
$65,280 TOTAL 2021 non-recurring costs

Proposal #12. Use the $875,611 cash balance in the County Food
& Beverage Tax Fund for interfund transfers back and forth with the County
General Fund so that General Fund disbursements can be made on time while
waiting for property tax revenues to be deposited.

Sheriff Nielsen is touting a 50% increase in the Boone
County Local Income Tax rate to implement his Business Plan. The current 1% Local Income Tax Rate
would be
increased up to 1.5%. Detailed information about how the Boone County Local Income Tax
rate can be increased is available online at http://www.finplaneducation.net/county_income_tax.htm.

Bait & Switch

Boone County Sheriff Mike Nielsen proclaims that he needs a permanent 50%
increase in the county-wide Local Income Tax to pay for his Boone County Sheriff
2016 Business Plan. However, much of the 50%
county-wide Local Income Tax increase would NOT be used to pay for new
spending on public safety needs: see http://www.finplaneducation.net/bait_and_switch.htm.

Boone County Police
Departments

Boone County taxpayers benefit if the county’s police protection is
evaluated from a holistic point of view instead of individual police department
“silos.” It is appropriate to consider that all seven police departments
together serve each citizen in Boone County because of the mutual aid agreements
between the police departments – every police department in Boone County
will respond to assist an individual police department if needed. Pertinent
information about all of the Boone County police departments can be found online
at http://www.finplaneducation.net/boone_county_police.htm.

Boone County Sheriff Mike
Nielsen has (1) confirmed the sixteen Business Plan components listed below, (2) provided
detailed cost data for each Business Plan component, and (3) submitted
written justifications explaining the importance of all but two of the sixteen
Business Plan components. Watchdog Indiana will provide counterpoint information
and
a Taxpayer Friendly evaluation of each Business Plan component.

SHERIFF JUSTIFICATION: The Sheriff’s Office has not
hired an additional deputy since 2004. This in itself should be enough to
justify the additional staff with the county growth. We have been able to
replace deputies when attrition happens. There has been an increase of 24% in
the population of Boone County since 2004. We simply have not kept up as other
police agencies have. We are the fastest growing county in the state. Our Calls
for Service is on the increase and we still remain the highest call taking
agency in the county.

Our inmate population continues to
increase to maximum capacity (214 inmates the week of August 15, 2016). Our
deputies work hand in hand with the corrections division in daily transports to
and from courts as well as correctional facilities across the state. We continue
to see a rise in crime in our area and I have personally seen the rise in
violent crimes in Boone County. We are strictly a reactive Law Enforcement
Agency. There are two deputies a shift working a total of 424 square miles and
we have no time to be in a proactive law enforcement mode. We simply are not
providing the citizens of this county with the services they deserve; most
importantly we are not providing our deputies with the manpower they need to
increase their own personal safety when they are protecting the citizens of this
county. They need to have closer backup and be able to respond to calls in a
timelier manner that what we currently do.

Since we are only a reactive law
enforcement agency we are not battling the drug related crimes at all. My goal
is to create a Criminal Interdiction Team that focuses of reducing the criminal
element coming into Boone County from surrounding counties. We need to create
this multi jurisdictional team to gain that “higher” ground so that we do
not fall to the criminal element. There are many more items that are in my
strategic plan that will be given out publicly on September 13th at the County
Council meeting or please come to one of the presentations that I will be
conducting about the LIT and my Five Year Strategic Plan. I look forward to
presenting them to everyone.

The latest available guidelines regarding the average number of full-time
officers in local police departments are presented in Appendix Table 14 of the
2013 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics Survey sponsored
by the Bureau of Justice Statistics within the U.S. Department of Justice: see http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/lpd13ppp.pdf.
The current Boone County population is 63,907 according to the STATS Indiana
website. The average number of full-time officers in local police departments
per 1,000 residents is 1.6 for populations between 50,000 and 99,999. Therefore,
Boone County should have at least 103 full-time officers (63,907/1,000 X
1.6).

Conclusion #1. Boone County exceeds the national average for the number of
full-time officers with 111 full-time officers serving in the seven Boone County
police departments.

Listed next are five tables that contain the data used to reach the
additional two conclusions listed under the tables.

Conclusion #2. The 10% increase in 2015 above the five-year average in the
number of county-wide total calls for service indicates that there has been a
recent increase in criminal activity. There is significant anecdotal evidence
that there has been a recent increase in the number of Boone County violent
crimes – there have been more calls for service where pistols have been drawn.

Conclusion #3. The question about whether additional self-initiated calls for
service will result in additional criminal arrests can be answered by comparing
the Boone County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) with the Lebanon Police Department (LPD).
Self-initiated calls for service in 2015 for both departments was 18% of their
total calls for service, with BCSO having 4,148 self-initiated calls for service
and LPD 3,047 self-initiated calls. However, there is a significant difference
in the number of criminal cases filed with the courts by the Boone County
Prosecutor from January 1 to September 8 of this year – LPD had 435 criminal
cases filed while BCSO had only 176 criminal cases filed (less than the 255
Zionsville Police Department criminal cases and the 183 Whitestown Police
Department criminal cases). Increasing the number of BCSO self-initiated
calls for service by hiring more Merit Deputies is not expected to significantly
increase the number of criminal cases filed by the BCSO because there is less
criminal activity in the rural areas serviced by the BCSO than there is in the
urban areas of Lebanon, Zionsville, and Whitestown.

Three more conclusions are listed next.

Conclusion #4. There are typically two Merit Deputies on patrol each of the
three eight-hour BCSO shifts. The individual safety of these Merit Deputies is
helped by the fact that all county police departments are available to respond
if a Merit Deputy transmits an officer-needs-assistance call. However, there is
a significant safety concern if a Merit Deputy has to respond alone to a
high-risk call such as a domestic disturbance. There is consensus that the BCSO
should preferably have four Merit Deputies on patrol each shift – six new
Merit Deputies would need to be hired so the BCSO could have four Merit Deputies
on patrol every shift.

Conclusion #5. BCSO Merit Deputies now have to help daily to transport
jail inmates to and from courts and correctional facilities across the state. If
ten new corrections officers (jailers) are hired in 2017, the number of inmate
transfer staff members will increase from one to two. This means that the
equivalent of a Merit Deputy will be freed up to perform law enforcement duties
each day instead of transporting inmates. This makes it unnecessary to hire the
seventh new Merit Deputy that Sheriff Nielsen is requesting.

Conclusion #6. The Merit Deputy that is freed up to perform law enforcement
duties each day instead of transporting inmates can become a member of the
Hamilton/Boone County Drug Task Force or serve on a new Boone County Criminal
Interdiction Team. This makes it unnecessary to hire the eighth new Merit Deputy
that Sheriff Nielsen is requesting.

TAXPAYER FRIENDLY EVALUATION: Hiring six new Merit Deputies in 2017
so there will be at least four Merit Deputies on patrol every shift is a medium
priority needfor which an excessive 0.50
percent increase in the Local Income Tax rate is not justified.
Hiring two additional new Merit Deputies is a lower
priority nice-to-have WANT that does not justify an increase in the county-wide
Local Income Tax rate.

2. Provide funding for a Criminal Interdiction Team.

COST: $10,000 for equipment and Desert Snow training.

SHERIFF JUSTIFICATION: Since we are only a reactive law enforcement agency we
are not battling the drug related crimes at all. My goal is to create a Criminal
Interdiction Team that focuses on reducing the criminal element coming into
Boone County from surrounding counties. We need to create this multi
jurisdictional team to gain that “higher” ground so that we do not fall to
the criminal element.

COUNTERPOINT: Boone County Sheriff Mike Nielsen reported to the Boone County
Council on June 14,2016, that additional manpower is needed to form a Boone
County Criminal Interdiction Team. The Criminal Interdiction Team would have
members from various police departments throughout Boone County. The Criminal
Interdiction Team would be “proactive” in using techniques such as field
interrogation in which police officers stop persons they believe to be
suspicious based on reasonable cause, question them about their activities, and
sometimes search the individuals and their vehicles. The initial focus of the
Criminal Interdiction Team would be to arrest heroin dealers. The Desert Snow
Training Program provides the law enforcement community with legal roadside
interdiction tactics to help identify major illegal drug smugglers while
conducting everyday patrol responsibilities: see https://desertsnow.com/.

It is believed that there is already a sufficient number of police officers
in the Zionsville Police Department and Whitestown Police Department to form a
Boone County Criminal Interdiction Team whether or not the Boone County
Sheriff’s Office hires any more merit deputies. The 29 law enforcement
officers in the Zionsville Police Department now have 51% self-initiated calls
for service, while the 14 Whitestown Police Department law enforcement officers
have 56% self-initiated calls for service. What this means is that these two
police departments have the time available for some of their police officers to
serve on a Boone County Criminal Interdiction Team.

Lebanon Police Department Chief Tyson Warmoth has not been asked to have any
of his 33 law enforcement officers serve on a Boone County Criminal Interdiction
Team. The Lebanon Police Department only has 14% self-initiated calls for
service. The Lebanon city budget includes one more police officer for 2017 –
Chief Warmoth intends to assign a second LPD police officer to serve on the
Hamilton/Boone County Drug Task Force by mid-July 2017 (the Zionsville Police
Department also has one police officer on the Hamilton/Boone County Drug Task
Force).

TAXPAYER FRIENDLY EVALUATION: A Boone County Criminal Interdiction Team
operating along the county’s southern border should help with “reducing the
criminal element coming into Boone County” from Marion County. IF the
leadership of Sheriff Nielsen is important in getting the Criminal Interdiction
Team established, then the Sheriff should make this one of his priority tasks.
Additional merit deputies in the Boone County Sheriff’s Office are not
necessary to get the Criminal Interdiction Team started, particularly when
taking into consideration the extended period of time it takes to hire a new
merit deputy. Funding for a Criminal Interdiction
Team is a higher priority NEED.

SHERIFF JUSTIFICATION: We have not been able to hire an
additional corrections officer in the last couple of years. Currently the
partnership that we have with Community Corrections provides us with three paid
corrections officer’s salaries. These three positions are paid via a DOC
grant. We currently are authorized for nineteen total corrections staff
including our Jail Commander and Assistant Jail Commander. We have 17 staff that
currently works the floor as corrections officers. These numbers are the same
staffing levels that we had when we were managing 80 inmates on a daily average
population (ADP). Currently we have not been under 190 inmates ADP for the last
several weeks.

Our inmate population continues to grow.
We have simply reached a point in our facility that we are at maximum capacity
levels. We have had two staffing level surveys conducted over the last couple of
years. The last survey conducted was completed on July 13th of this year. My
staffing recommendation is conservative compared to the recommendation of
staffing that this survey recommends we need (a PDF copy of the “BCSO
CORRECTIONS STAFF SURVEY” document can be provided via an E-mail request totaxless3@comcast.net).
This survey alone explains why it is critical to change the way we are doing
business today.

We currently are utilizing our merit
staff, including administration, to make transports on a daily basis. This is
something that should be handled within the corrections division. We are already
drawing form the merit staff that is shorthanded as well. This reduces the
services that we provide to the citizens of this county as mentioned in my
previous response.

We have been severely understaffed in the
jail/corrections division for many years. We cannot provide adequate safety and
security for the inmates, the staff, or our facility with the amount of staff we
have working the jail today.

The lack of safety and security aspect
alone justifies the need to hire additional staffing. Our staff deserves the
best in tools to perform their jobs as well as having the adequate amount of
shift partners to keep them safe.

There are many more items that are in my
strategic plan that will be given out publicly on September 13th at the County
Council meeting or please come to one of the additional presentations that I
will be conducting about the LIT and my Five Year Strategic Plan. I look forward
to presenting them to everyone.

COUNTERPOINT:There
is no Watchdog Indiana counterpoint because Sheriff Nielsen is spot on with his
request for 10 more jailers!

The Indiana County Jail Standard 210 IAC 3-1-14 provides little
precise guidance regarding what is a sufficient number of jail personnel to
provide adequate 24-hour supervision of inmates. The only requirements are that
(a) a jail officer shall provide documented personal observation, not including
observation by a monitoring device, of each inmate at least once every 60
minutes between the hours of 8:00 PM and 7:00 AM (such observation may be
conducted on an irregular schedule) and (b) high risk, suicidal inmates shall be
provided appropriate supervision consistent with that behavior.

Much better specific guidance regarding a sufficient number of jailers needed
for our Boone County Jail is provided by the July 13, 2016, “Boone County Jail
Staffing Plan” report (a PDF copy of which can be provided via E-mail request
totaxless3@comcast.net).
Sheriff Nielsen uses this report as justification to ask that the Boone County
Council approve the following jail personnel for 2017:
1 Jail Commander (same as today)
1 Assistant Jail Commander (same as today)
3 Jail Sergeants (same as today)
1 Jail Administrator (same as today)
21 Jail Officers (9 more than today)
2 Transport Staff (1 more than today)
29 TOTAL Jail Personnel (10 more than today)

The 29 jailers requested by Sheriff Nielsen can be judged to be sufficient to
meet our jail’s needs in accordance with the July 13 report parameters because
Sheriff Nielsen properly uses average comp time per jailer of 11.125 days a year
instead of the excessive 24 comp time days included in the report.

TAXPAYER FRIENDLY EVALUATION: The Boone County
Council must approve 10 more jailers in 2017. A total of 29 jail
personnel will be sufficient to operate the facility controls, complete health
and welfare checks as required, check the cell and housing area for security and
safety problems, maintain the security of the building, and securely and legally
admit, detain, and release those in custody. Merit deputies should no longer be
needed to transport jail inmates on a daily basis. Approving 10 more jailers
for 2017 is the most important component of the Boone County Sheriff 2016 Business Plan.

SHERIFF JUSTIFICATION: This position is strictly a
proactive communications position that can also fill in for a communications
officer when needed. We currently are not doing a good job in keeping up with
statistical communications data, reported problems, outages, organization as a
whole, scanning documents to become a paperless organization, providing feedback
to the end users, etc... The communications center also has not been able to
grow its staff with the growth in the county. The amount of calls that we
receive on a daily basis continue to increase as the other trending that we have
seen from other divisions. Our goal for next year is to create a 911 advisory
board that will help lead the direction of the communications center. An
ordinance to create this board will have to be enacted by the Boone County
Commissioners. The board will include a representative from all public safety
aspects as well as two citizen positions. The communications director and this
administrative position will develop and lead this 911/communications advisory
board effort. This position will be a key in the communications division in
becoming more proactive from a communications perspective.

COUNTERPOINT: It seems like the existing Communications Director, who had a
salary of $56,274 in 2015, should be expected to satisfactorily perform duties
such as being responsible for “organization as a whole” and providing
feedback to end users – as well as keeping up with statistical communications
data, reported problems, and outages.

TAXPAYER FRIENDLY EVALUATION: A costly Communications Administrator should
not be hired until and unless the anticipated 911 Advisory Board determines that
the position of Communications Administrator is a necessity. Hiring
a Communications Administrator in 2017 is a lower priority nice-to-have WANT
that does not justify an increase in the county-wide Local Income Tax rate.

SHERIFF JUSTIFICATION: Simply put, we cannot protect
the citizens of this county visiting the courthouse daily nor can we protect the
people that work in the courthouse and other county buildings the way that we
should be protecting them. We currently have two courthouse deputies. Three
years ago the Courthouse Security Committee created a five year courthouse
security plan and presented it to the commissioners and to the county council.
It was not funded.

That security plan took into consideration
eventually allowing only one exit and one entry to our courthouse. It also
included additional personnel to staff the one entry and one exit to the
courthouse as well as a floating deputy to roam amongst our other county owned
buildings. Now that we own the Key Bank building and the Prosecutors office has
completed their move to the old Elks building, the safety and security of those
buildings fall under my responsibility as the Sheriff as well.

Our goal would be to have the proper
equipment staffed to X-Ray all bags coming into the courthouse as well as have
persons go through a metal detector. By doing this we drastically reduce the
opportunity for deadly weapons from coming into the courthouse. Prevention is
key to successful security.

COUNTERPOINT: It is simply inaccurate to state that the Boone County Council
has not funded significant Courthouse security improvements the past
couple of years. A second Courthouse Deputy was hired at an annual cost of about
$79,000 taking into account the Deputy’s salary, PERF retirement, FICA, Health
Insurance, uniform, and bullet proof vest. The County Council spent $44,189 on
hardware to upgrade the security camera system at the Courthouse, the 116 West
Washington Street Annex Building, the 220 West Washington Street Annex Building,
and the second floor of the Key Bank Building – the Courthouse Deputies can
now view each of the cameras using a hand-held device. Electronic door lock
systems were also installed at the Courthouse, at both Annex buildings, and on
the second floor of the Key Bank Building at a cost of $13,879. AND the county
spent at least $962,960 to purchase and renovate the 220 West Washington Street
Annex Building to house the 24 employees of the Prosecutor’s Office behind a
secure foyer equipped with bullet proof glass.

Details regarding the sophisticated security camera system on the second
floor of the Key Bank Building illustrate the efforts that have been recently
made to enhance the security of county employees. The Boone County Probation and
Community Corrections departments are housed on the Key Bank Building second
floor. At least 15 total cameras are on the second floor, with 4 cameras in the
waiting room, 2 in the conference room, and others in the interior hallways,
juvenile area, and parking lot. The two Courthouse Deputies can view each of
these cameras using a hand-held device. If a Probation or Community Corrections
employee is working after hours, the 911 Dispatch Center is alerted to watch the
second floor cameras on their remote monitors. Offenders entering the Probation
and Community Corrections departments from the waiting room must be escorted
through a locked door after passing through a metal detector. The second floor
elevator and fire doors are locked when the Probation and Community Corrections
departments are unoccupied.

It is sad to contemplate that the rural quality of life in Boone County is
being compromised to the point where a protected single-entry point to the
Courthouse must be considered. However, three new Courthouse Deputies are NOT
needed to operate a Courthouse single-entry point – only one new Courthouse
Deputy would be sufficient. Since the Courthouse Deputies can view on a
hand-held device any camera in the Courthouse and the county’s other three
buildings, “a floating deputy to roam amongst our other county owned
buildings” is definitely NOT needed.

TAXPAYER FRIENDLY EVALUATION: If it is decided to have a protected
single-entry point to the Courthouse, providing the equipment needed for
the single-entry point and hiring one more new Courthouse Deputy to operate the
equipment is a medium priority needfor which
an excessive 0.50 percent increase in the Local Income Tax rate is not
justified. Hiring two additional new
Courthouse Deputies is a lower priority nice-to-have WANT that does not justify
an increase in the county-wide Local Income Tax rate.

6. Provide the equipment needed for
enhanced Courthouse security.

COST: $50,000.

SHERIFF JUSTIFICATION: In order to implement our
security plan at the courthouse we will need to include extra cameras at the
entry/exit point, one X-Ray instrument, two metal detectors, and a soft barrier
rope system at this location. I believe that each one of these items is self
explanatory as to why they will be needed at this one entry/exit location.

COUNTERPOINT: See the Counterpoint for the above Boone
County Sheriff 2016 Business Plan Component #5.

TAXPAYER FRIENDLY EVALUATION: If it is
decided to have a protected single-entry point to the Courthouse, providing
the equipment needed for the single-entry point is a medium priority needfor which an excessive 0.50 percent increase in the
Local Income Tax rate is not justified.

7. Install cameras in the Key Bank
building.

COST: $70,000 with appropriate video storage included.

SHERIFF JUSTIFICATION: There are no cameras currently
in the stairwells of this building.

COUNTERPOINT: The Boone County Community Corrections
Executive Director relates that “We have a very elaborate set of security
cameras in our office (on the second floor of the Key Bank building). I am
thinking we have an excess of 15 cameras but that is not an exact figure.”
Community Corrections purchased the cameras when the department first moved into
the building. The county completed a costly upgrade of the cameras two years ago
– courthouse deputies can now view each of the cameras on a hand-held device.

TAXPAYER FRIENDLY EVALUATION: Putting cameras in
the stairwells of the Key Bank building is a lower priority nice-to-have WANT. The
minuscule improvement in building security does not justify an increase in the
county-wide Local Income Tax rate.

SHERIFF JUSTIFICATION: The additional Crime Scene
Investigator is to augment current staffing within the investigations division.

The need is based on current and projected workload and
the need to expand technical capability within the BCSO. With a single CSI, we
have no redundancy. That single individual must respond to any and all requests
for evidence collection from both BCSO and other law enforcement agencies within
the county. When any question on how, what or how to collect evidence arises
they are engaged to either go to the scene or provide instruction to the officer
at the location (On Call 7X24).

This individual is also tasked as the
single CSI assigned to both the A&B FACT team and is part of the Homicide
task force (On Call 7X24).

This individual is responsible for all
Prosecutors requests for lab analysis including preparation and all
documentation necessary for secondary lab examination, retrieval and
presentation of all tangible or digital evidence for court including depositions
or testimony.

This position currently also supports the
Enforcement division for technology needs, asset tracking, trouble shooting
software & hardware on a daily basis (On Call 7X24).

This position works with our county IT
organization in planning, procuring and validation of new IT assets for officers
both in the office and vehicle.

This position is also responsible for the
evaluation of new technologies for improved performance or new capabilities.

All these responsibilities are in addition
to execution of the normal workload. With the future expansion of additional
officers working, using proactive policing, the work load will continue to
escalate.

This does not cover any special projects
assigned to this position.

Short answer - Workload exceeds capacity
and the retention of staff for a position will become very problematic if this
is not addressed.

COUNTERPOINT: The two comments listed next indicate that the other Boone
County police agencies have their own evidence technicians and make only
periodic use of the Sheriff’s current Crime Scene Investigator to help collect
evidence or answer questions on how to collect evidence – and that assistance
is also provided from time-to-time to the Sheriff’s Crime Scene Investigator
by the other police agencies.

Lebanon Police Department Chief Tyson Warmoth: “We have our own techs.
However, each department relies on other department techs if ours are
unavailable. If it is a major crime, BCSO and LPD techs will work together as a
team to make sure all bases are covered.”

Whitestown Police Department Chief Dennis Anderson: “Yes, WMPD from
time to time will utilize the Evidence Tech's of both the BCSD and those of the
ZPD during major case events. In turn WMPD will assist any of the other agencies
within Boone County who may require assistance on large cases such as; death or
homicide investigations for example. Or a very large or multiple crime scene
case, or a case that has a large amount of evidence requiring processing and or,
large evidence items that require secure storage. I believe we all utilize the
BCSD for extra large item evidence storage at this time. As it stands right now,
during major case events anywhere in the county, agencies will collectively join
all of the available resources to complete the task at hand. WMPD has two
detectives who perform our daily E.T. duties.”

TAXPAYER FRIENDLY EVALUATION: There is good cross-agency cooperation in Boone
County if the Sheriff’s Crime Scene Investigator or a police department
evidence technician is not available to process the evidence at a crime scene.
The relative number of criminal cases handled by the Boone County Sheriff’s
Office do not justify more than one Crime Scene Investigator. IN ADDITION, the
Boone County Council approved a part time evidence technician for the Sheriff's
office in the 2016 budget, and this new employee should help the Crime Scene
Investigator perform his duties. Hiring
one more Crime Scene Investigator for the Sheriff’s Office is a lower priority
nice-to-have WANT that does not justify an increase in the county-wide Local
Income Tax rate.

SHERIFF JUSTIFICATION: The position of Crime Analyst is
part of the strategy direction for moving to a data a driven police model or
Intelligence Led Policing with the incorporation of predictive analytics based
on daily calls in conjunction with regional crime trends. This includes:

1. Finding Series, Patterns, Trends, and
Hot Spots as They Happen. Crime analysts review all police reports every day
with the goal of identifying patterns as they emerge.

2. Researching and Analyzing Long-Term
Problems. Crime analysis isn’t just about immediate patterns and series:
analysts also look at the long-term problems that every police department faces.

3. Providing Information on Demand.
Extract data from records systems, ask questions of it, and turn it into useful
information for all divisions.

4. Developing and Linking Local
Intelligence. Know when local information or intelligence fits with state,
national, or international intelligence.

5. Be a conduit to the public on emerging
activity providing local awareness to crime trends and impact. Post analyses,
statistics, and charts on your web site and in printed publications to convey
that we are on proactive in enforcement.

6. This position will responsible for all
statistical data for all areas and divisions within the BCSO.

They will also be responsible for
coordination of investigation assigned cases, prosecutor’s office court dates,
filing of documentation and case close check list and scanning/achieving of all
case documentation.

COUNTERPOINT: Information about the job of a Crime Analyst can be found
online at http://www.iaca.net/dc_analyst_role.asp.
It is hoped that a Crime Analyst in the Sheriff’s office would regularly
share reports with other Boone County law enforcement agencies to help identify
crime trends.

TAXPAYER FRIENDLY EVALUATION: A conscientious Crime Analyst could augment
the observations of police agency patrol officers to help prevent Boone County
crimes. Hiring a Crime Analyst in 2017 is a medium priority needfor which an excessive 0.50 percent increase in the
Local Income Tax rate is not justified.

COST: $130,000 per contract with outside agency. This
is an estimated cost to provide aMasters level
therapist for 40 hours per week and a Doctors level therapist for 6 to 8 hoursper week.

SHERIFF JUSTIFICATION: This is not just about drug treatment
options. Mental health and Drug addiction are intertwined. Currently we are not
giving our inmates with mental health problems any form of proactive treatment
within our facility. There are inmates within our jail that are suffering from a
mental illness and should not be incarcerated. We try to work with the
prosecutor’s office and courts to get these inmates released from our facility
and that does not always work. There are also very few locations that will
accept an incarcerated inmate within a mental health treatment facility. They do
not have secure lock down capability.

My belief and that of the mental health
professionals that I have spoken with feel that we can help those suffering from
this disease each day within our facility. This treatment will allow the
transition from incarceration to society much more tolerable. It will increase
the chance that these inmates suffering from this disease can integrate back
into society much easier than without treatment while incarcerated. If a local
mental health provider is used it will also allow the transition to continue
care once they are released.

It is also a fact that the majority of our
inmates are here because of drugs for some reason. We currently have a great
partnership with our Community Corrections and probation. Our counselors that we
provide our inmates are beyond reproach in my opinion. We offer great services
including drug counseling, anger management, HSE, just to name a few.

In order for us to get a handle on the
opiate issues and methamphetamine issues we are seeing in Boone County, we need
to start the process inside our facility. I do not want to see these folks back
in our facility. We need to invest in our future so that these inmates do not
become a statistic or end up back in the Boone County Jail.

COUNTERPOINT: The Bureau of Mental Health Promotion and
Addiction Prevention within the Indiana Division of Mental Health and Addiction
should verify that this Business Plan component is an evidence-based initiative
that serves to prevent and reduce substance abuse and mental illness, reduce the
negative impact of substance abuse and mental illness, and promote overall
behavioral health: see http://www.in.gov/fssa/dmha/4484.htm#.

TAXPAYER FRIENDLY EVALUATION: Assuming this
Business Plan component is sufficiently evidence-based, a
contract with a qualified outside agency to improve jail mental health and drug
addiction treatment options is a higher priority NEED.
Selecting a qualified outside agency should be a joint decision of the Sheriff,
County Judges, Prosecutor, Community Corrections, Health Department, and County
Commissioners.

12. Include in-car cameras and body
cameras in the Information Technology budget.

COST: $100,000 which included the proper amount of
server storage.

SHERIFF JUSTIFICATION: The question of trust of the
"General Public" or the trust of my staff of the public we serve is
not the issue. The issue comes into perspective when some people, who have less
than honest intentions, make unfounded accusations as a method for personal gain
or political/social agenda. This is the case in the enforcement division as well
as the corrections division. Currently we record every transmission, voice and
data, in our communication division as a protection from liability and
accusations. What is the difference with cameras in these other divisions?

We also find ourselves in a very litigious
society where hyper sensitivity to interactions between law enforcement can be
misconstrued, misrepresented and have devastating consequences as seen in
multiple metropolitan areas.

These 2 aspects of today’s environment
alone have driven the need for Body Cameras as we now live in a “Trust but
Verify” operational stance. Where an accusation is made or a significant event
transpires we need the ability to provide the public with a clear and accurate
response that is direct and without reproach.

The faster we can fully expose all the
facts in their totality, where a body camera provides an unedited sequence of
events, the faster we can defuse the situation or take the appropriate action
with that staff member if necessary.

We never want to become one of many
communities that have been unduly accused of something and then mayhem
transpired because there was no way to show what actually happened.

In addition to these rationales we also
have the advent of expectations of the public when engaged in the judicial
system both as a suspect or a juror that all events will be in high definition
and ready for review during the legal proceedings. In many ways this expectation
and the use of Body cameras has replaced the still photo or audio tapes of the
past. For a prosecutor to be able to make his case or convince a suspect to work
out a plea agreement shows that the advent of digital evidence is a significant
factor in conviction.

With all that said, I personally have no
desire for body cameras and I wish there was an alternative but I am all too
aware of the legal liability we are exposed to without the adoption of this
technology, strength of digital evidence in court shows us how body cameras have
become a public mandate.

Again we live in a world that demands
transparency and the use of digital devices has become the standard to meet
those expectations.

COUNTERPOINT: In-car cameras and body cameras might be
needed if (a) the county population does not trust the Sheriff’s office, (b)
the Sheriff and his deputies do not trust the county population, or (c) the
Sheriff believes that some of his deputies are not performing their jobs in a
professional manner (particularly in situations where deadly force might become
necessary). There is no indication that there is a lack of trust between the
county population and the Sheriff’s office, and it appears that the Sheriff
and his deputies trust the county population. There is no public evidence that
Sheriff deputies are not performing their jobs in a professional manner.

TAXPAYER FRIENDLY EVALUATION: In addition to the
hardware costs for in-car cameras and body cameras, digital storage costs are a
major concern for the videos from in-car cameras and body cameras because an
Indiana law requires police departments to hold videos for 190 days. Further
expense would be necessary for software to obscure released video footage and
the labor to obscure the video footage - Indiana law requires that released
video footage obscure an individual's death or dead body, acts of severe
violence against any individual who is clearly visible and that result in
serious bodily injury, serious bodily injury, nudity, an individual reasonably
believed to be younger than 18, and a confidential informant or an undercover
law enforcement officer. Also, the
limited perspectives provided by in-car camera and body camera videos sometime
provide a misleading image of what has actually taken place. In the absence of
trust issues and concerns about the professionalism of Sheriff’s deputies,
in-car cameras and body cameras seem to fall into the category of a WANT instead
of a NEED. At this time, the minimal Boone County benefits from providing
in-car cameras and body cameras do not justify a Local Income Tax increase.

13. Purchase two new K-9 (one per shift).

COST: $40,000.

SHERIFF JUSTIFICATION: Sheriff Nielsen has not submitted written
justifications explaining the importance of this Business Plan component. Since
the Sheriff’s office has one K-9 police dog now, it is assumed that the
Sheriff wants two more K-9 police dogs so he can have one K-9 police dog per
shift.

COUNTERPOINT: K-9 Police dog duties include searching for drugs and
explosives, searching for lost people, looking for crime scene evidence, and
protecting their handlers. In addition to the Sheriff’s office, the Lebanon
Police Department and the Zionsville Police Department also now have one K-9
police dog.

TAXPAYER FRIENDLY EVALUATION: In the absence of detailed
justifications from Sheriff Nielsen, three K-9 police dogs county-wide appear to
be sufficient. Purchasing two new K-9 police dogsfor the Sheriff’s Office is a lower priority
nice-to-have WANT that does not justify an increase in the county-wide Local
Income Tax rate.

14. Provide a fenced in area behind the "barn."

COST: $15,000.

SHERIFF JUSTIFICATION: Vehicles from fatal crashes or
evidence can be secured in this area. A camera was installed last year.

COUNTERPOINT: The “barn” is located behind the Boone County Jail, which
is hardly a high-crime area!

TAXPAYER FRIENDLY EVALUATION: Location behind the Boone County Jail, together
with the presence of a camera, provide adequate security for vehicles from fatal
crashes and other evidence. Providing a fenced in area
behind the “barn” is a lower priority nice-to-have WANT that does not
justify an increase in the county-wide Local Income Tax rate.

15. Remodel a room in the jail for computer servers
storage.

COST: $3,000.

SHERIFF JUSTIFICATION: IT will be moving all of our
servers to a dedicated server room.

COUNTERPOINT: A well-designed dedicated server room should increase data
security, control server overheating, have fire safety measures in place,
contain server noise, and make it easier to perform maintenance and repairs. It
is assumed that a backup system and data will be located in a separate location
in case of a fire, flood, or other disaster.

TAXPAYER FRIENDLY EVALUATION: Remodeling a room in the jail to be a
dedicated server room is a medium priority need for
which an excessive 0.50 percent increase in the Local Income Tax rate is not
justified.

16. Provide needed items related to information technology.

COST: $15,000.

SHERIFF JUSTIFICATION: Sheriff Nielsen has not
submitted written justifications explaining the importance of this Business Plan
component.

COUNTERPOINT: Perhaps some of the Sheriff’s Business Plan components
require specialized computer software and/or hardware – it is not understood
why these items cannot be included the county’s 2017 information technology
budget.

TAXPAYER FRIENDLY EVALUATION: Funding to provide
unjustified items related to information technology is a lower priority
nice-to-have WANT that does not justify an increase in the county-wide Local
Income Tax rate.

Boone County Jail Expansions
& Sheriff's Rainy Day Fund

The Sheriff has become sensitive when challenged why he is selling a LIT
increase that will provide twice as much revenue as what he needs for his
originally announced Business Plan. In response, he has recently proposed two
poorly justified and Taxpayer UNfriendly additions to his Business Plan
– (1) setting aside $100,000 every year for a Sheriff’s Rainy Day Fund and
(2) setting aside $500,000 every year for future Boone County Jail expansions.

The Sheriff wants $100,000 from the excessive 50% LIT increase to be
allocated yearly to a Sheriff’s Rainy Day Fund. The Sheriff would apparently
use his special Rainy Day Fund to pay for initiatives not included his annual
budgets – in other words, the Sheriff could add to his budgeted spending
WITHOUT the approval of the Boone County Council. It is
poor public policy, and Taxpayer UNfriendly, for the Sheriff – and any other
elected or hired county official – to be able to spend any county tax dollars without
the approval of the Boone County Council. It is Taxpayer Friendly for
every county tax dollar that is spent to be approved by the Boone County Council
through the budget process or the additional appropriation procedure.

The Sheriff also wants $500,000 set aside every year from the excessive 50%
LIT increase to save for future Boone County Jail expansions. The May 29, 2015,
“Boone County Jail Feasibility Study” by DLZ predicts that two jail
expansions will be needed at some point between 2020 and 2027. One Jail
expansion costing as much as $1,300,000 would add space for a vehicle sallyport
and juvenile holding. Another Jail expansion costing as much as $9,100,000 would
add space for 128 inmate beds, indoor recreation, outdoor recreation, a laundry,
program classrooms, satellite control, and medical facilities. Note that setting
aside $500,000 every year until 2027 would save a total of $5.0 million for the
jail expansions, less than half of the $10.4 million total cost. A bond issue
will be necessary to complete the jail expansions with or without the annual
$500,000 set asides from the excessive 50% LIT increase.

It is Taxpayer Friendly to use bond issues to pay for
costly capital projects when they are properly structured to use existing
revenue sources to make the debt payments without tax increases.

It is wastefully Taxpayer UNfriendly to use excessive
tax increases to save a relatively small amount of money on bond interest and
expenses – which is exactly what the Sheriff is proposing with his $500,000
set asides for future Boone County Jail expansions.

The $600,000 from the excessive 50% LIT increase that the Sheriff wants to
set aside each year for an unwise Sheriff’s Rainy Day Fund and for future
Boone County Jail expansions could be spent on current county needs.
Spending $600,000 on county NEEDS such as the summer road program would help
avoid triggering tax increases such as a county-wide Wheel Tax. The
Sheriff’s Taxpayer UNfriendly uses of the $600,000 set asides not only would
be the result of an excessive county-wide 50% LIT increase, but would also
unnecessarily trigger a regressive county-wide Wheel Tax. Is there
any unneeded tax increase that the Sheriff does not support? The future
Boone County Jail expansions can be paid for using bond issues that are properly
structured to use existing revenue sources without tax increases.

Taxpayer UNfriendlyFunding Option: 50% Local Income Tax Rate Increase

Why is Boone County Sheriff Mike Nielsen selling a
Local Income Tax rate increase that is twice what he needs for his entire Business Plan?

Please send an E-mail to taxless3@comcast.net
to receive a Word copy of the "legal language" of the tax-increasing
Resolution that is being championed by Sheriff Nielsen. Sheriff Nielsen is
touting a 50% increase in the Local Income Tax rate for "public
safety."

Listed next are the extra revenues that would result from imposing a 25% Local Income Tax rate increase that is allocated to
public safety:$2,274,316 Boone County$1,944,179 Zionsville
$1,234,812 Lebanon
$ 832,254 Whitestown
$ 39,941 Thorntown
$ 22,932 Jamestown
$ 21,758 Advance$ 9,681 Ulen
$6,379,873 TOTAL

Listed next are the excessive revenues that would result from imposing the 50% Local Income Tax rate increase that is proposed by
Sheriff Nielsen:$ 4,548,632 Boone County($2,519,790
more than the $2,028,842 Business Plan new spending)$ 3,888,358 Zionsville
$ 2,469,624 Lebanon
$ 1,664,508 Whitestown
$ 79,882 Thorntown
$ 45,864 Jamestown
$ 43,516 Advance$ 19,362 Ulen
$12,759,746 TOTAL

All of the
$4,548,632 revenue from the 50% Local Income Tax
increase – together with other tax dollars – would be used to fund Boone
County's 2017 budget for the Sheriff's Office. However, the revenue from the 50%
Local Income Tax increase in 2017 would replace other tax dollars that
Boone County would have otherwise spent on the Sheriff's Office – AND these
replaced tax dollars would be available for spending by the Boone County Council
on who knows what! The $2,519,790 amount of the 2017 replaced tax
dollars that would be available for non-public safety spending by the
Boone County Council is computed by subtracting from the $ 4,548,632
revenue generated by the 50% Local Income Tax increase the $2,028,842 NEW
Business Plan spending.

No one believes that the $2.5 million in replaced tax dollars will be used by the Boone County Council to lower property
tax rates. By unnecessarily increasing the Local Income
Tax rate by 50% instead of the 25% needed to pay for the
Sheriff’s Business Plan, the Boone County Council would have $2.5 million in
excessive taxes to spend on who knows what.

There is one very costly non-public safety project that has received little
attention – the Ronald Reagan Parkway. The Ronald Reagan Parkway will be
extended 9.8 miles from County Road 600 North in Hendricks County to I-65 Exit
133 in Boone County. Of the 9.8 miles of roadway in the Ronald Reagan Parkway
Project, 46% is in Boone County and 54% in Hendricks County. This four-lane
Project with a 115-foot wide right-of-way will start in Hendricks County and
mostly go through farm land east of State Road 267 in Boone County, Zionsville,
and Whitestown. The Project is being jointly managed by the Boone County
Commissioners and the Hendricks County Commissioners through an interlocal
agreement. Additional details regarding the Project’s description, cost,
interlocal agreement, and request for qualifications can be found online at http://www.finplaneducation.net/ronald_reagan_parkway.htm.

The estimated cost of the Ronald Reagan Parkway Project is at least $75
million. Boone County will pay 46%, or $34.5 million, of this $75 million
estimated total Project cost - Hendricks County will pay 54%, or $40.5 million.
The stated goal of the Boone County and Hendricks County Commissioners is to
complete this Project in just 5 years! It is anticipated that State and Federal
funding options will be limited if the Project is rushed to completion in such a
short period of time. It is likely that local funds will have to cover up to
60% of the total cost it the Project is finished in only 5 years. This means
that Boone County taxpayers would have to shell out $4.14 million in local tax
dollars each year from 2017 through 2021 to cover 60% of Boone County's
$34.5 million share of the Project's cost ($34.5 million times 0.60 divided by 5
years).

Some developer-friendly local elected officials have touted the Ronald Reagan
Parkway Project as a “great economic driver.” Most development adjacent to
the Parkway will be similar to what is popping up along the stretch of
Whitestown Parkway (old State Road 334) between I-65 and Veterans Drive (County
Road 700 East). There would be convenience stores, restaurants, grocery stores,
big box retailers, strip malls, motels, and apartment buildings – none of whom
hire many employees at a Get-Ahead Wage of at least $20 an hour with full
benefits.

Who wants to guess that the developer-friendly local elected officials who
want to fund the sprawl-increasing Ronald Reagan Parkway Project are drooling at
the opportunity for a back-door local tax increase to pay for their boondoggle?
Boone County, Zionsville, and Whitestown could take their substantial extra
dollars that would not be spent on public safety from the excessive 50%
Local Income Tax rate increase to pay the $4.14 million local tax dollars needed
annually to rush the Project to completion in only five years. Even if you think
the Ronald Reagan Parkway Project is a great opportunity, you should expect
our local elected public servants to be honest and publicly state exactly what
non-public safety projects would be paid for by the Taxpayer UNfriendly 50% increase in the Local Income Tax rate.

Sheriff Nielsen is quoted in the August 19,2016, Lebanon Reporter as
saying, “This isn’t just about the sheriff’s office, it’s about how we
take care of other departments.” This same Lebanon Reporter story
states that “Umbaugh & Associates presented a financial analysis of the
county’s funding situation and warned the county would be $2.94 million in the
red if it spent this year’s entire appropriated budget.” A review of the
accuracy of the Umbaugh report that was presented to the Boone County Council on
August 9 reveals that other county departments do NOT need the extra revenue
from an excessive a 50% Local Income Tax rate increase.

The cash flows in the county’s General Fund and COIT Distributive Shares
Fund must be combined to determine if the county has a traditional “structural
budget deficit” and is outspending its available annual revenues. The Umbaugh
Report projects combined structural budget deficits of $921,055 in 2016;
$870,825 in 2017; and $1,163,361 in 2018. The combined cash reserves would
supposedly decrease from 20.48% of total annual operating disbursements at the
end of 2015 to 3.39% at the end of 2018. There is just one thing wrong about
these conclusions – they are based on cynical
manipulative omissions in the Umbaugh report that are intended to falsely
justify a Local Income Tax rate increase.

The Umbaugh report only includes estimated county revenues from the current
1.00% COIT of $8,034,367 in 2017 ($958,268 less than
the actual amount of $8,992,635) and $8,034,367 in 2018 ($1,573,364
less than the estimated amount of $9,607,731). The state released
information on August 1 revealing the county’s ACTUAL 2017 COIT amount
will be $8,992,635, but the August 9 Umbaugh report dishonestly did not
include the $958,268 extra COIT revenue increase that the county will receive in
2017 – this is despicable at a
time when a few elected officials have apparently put Sheriff Nielsen out front
to support an excessive 0.50 percent Local Income Tax rate increase under the
guise that the county budget is “heading toward the red.”

The financial health of the county is a lot better if
the honest 2017 and 2018 revenue increases from the existing 1.00% COIT are
inserted into the misleading Umbaugh report.

The county would
have a 2017 combined structural budget surplus of $87,443. The 2018
combined structural budget deficit of $548,265 is substantially less than the
$1,163,361 deficit included in the misleading Umbaugh report. The combined cash
reserves would decrease from 20.48% of total annual operating disbursements at
the end of 2015 to 15.23% at the end of 2017 and to 11.85% at the end of 2018
– the misleading Umbaugh report has only a 3.39% cash reserve at the end of
2018.

It is prudent for the county’s combined General and COIT Distributive
Shares Fund to have cash reserves that are 15% of total annual operating
disbursements. The combined fund needs $586,837 more cash to have a 15% cash
reserve at the end of 2018. IF the county does not spend more than it receives
from its Food & Beverage Tax Fund in 2017 and 2018, the $875,000 cash
balance in the county’s Food & Beverage Tax Fund can be used for interfund
transfers back and forth with the combined fund so that combined fund
disbursements can be made on time while waiting for property tax revenues to be
deposited.

Part of the answer to the key question - why is Sheriff
Nielsen selling a Local Income Tax rate increase that would generate $1.4
million more revenue than he needs for his entire Business Plan - is
included in the following statement from an E-mail sent by Sheriff Nielsen on
August 29, 2016: “The 0.5% was a mutually agreed upon rate from the executive
team representing the major municipalities and the county.”

Concerned citizens might wonder who is this “executive team” and just
when – and why – did they decide to cower behind the Boone County
Sheriff’s badge and let Sheriff Nielsen emotionally and incorrectly tout the
entire 0.50 percent Local Income Tax rate increase as being necessary to meet
public safety needs.

Lebanon Mayor Gentry announced at an August 25 budget workshop of the Lebanon
City Council that they may need to prepare two versions of the 2017 Lebanon
budget because the County Council and Zionsville Town Council will approve a
county-wide 50% LIT increase.

Some may very well conclude that it is unethical
for a secretive “executive team” to meet behind closed doors for the purpose
of reaching consensus regarding how to manipulate an excessive increase in the
county-wide Local Income Tax rate.excessively increasing the Local
Income Tax rate by 50%.

Sheriff Nielsen has shown his integrity by openly revealing in great detail
why he wants a Local Income Tax rate increase to pay for his Business Plan. The
Boone County Council and Zionsville Town Council members are
challenged to publicly reveal all the details of how much they plan to spend on
non-public safety projects from the windfalls they would receive by excessively
increasing the Local Income Tax rate by 50%. They
should not be afraid of public scrutiny to evaluate if their spending intentions
sufficiently address needs rather than wants to justify a large county-wide tax
increase. It is not ethical to have Sheriff Nielsen
sell the 50% increase in the Local Income Tax rate without revealing
what non-public safety projects would be funded by the portion of the tax
increase not needed for public safety. Also, it is readily apparent
that the excessive 50% increase in the Local Income Tax rate is not
really needed to address the fake county fiscal shortcomings in the misleading
Umbaugh report. Finally, it is not right for this
significant tax increase to be pre-arranged by a secretive “executive team”
without information being freely shared with the public.

Taxpayer UncertainFunding Option: 25% Local Income Tax Rate Increase

It would be Taxpayer Uncertain to increase the county-wide
Local Income Tax rate by 25% or less. A Local Income Tax
rate increase that is no more than 25% would satisfactorily fund the
Boone County Sheriff 2016 Business Plan without generating unneeded windfall tax
dollars.

Why is Boone County Sheriff Mike Nielsen selling a 50% Local
Income Tax rate increase when

all he would need
is a 25% increase to implement his entire Business Plan?

Sheriff Nielsen has provided updated information regarding what the county
would pay in salaries, retirement benefits, FICA, and health insurance for the
24 new employees he seeks in his expansive Business Plan. The county pays into a
special pension plan for Merit Deputies, while other employees in the
Sheriff’s office participate in the state’s Public Employee Retirement Fund
(PERF). FICA is the Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax, of which the county
pays 7.65% of an employee’s salary to help fund Social Security and Medicare.
The Sheriff has provided an average of what the county pays in health insurance
for the various categories of his employees. The Sheriff’s updated employee
compensation information is summarized next.

The county’s cash reserves can be properly used to
pay for the $877,320 in one-time Business Plan costs that do not recur every
year.

Ongoing funding sources will be needed to pay for the
Business Plan’s recurring annual costs of $2,244,714.

The county’s August 9, 2016, Umbaugh report shows that the cash balance in
the county’s Rainy Day Fund will be $3,756,498 at the end of 2016. It should
be noted that $1,009,863 was deposited earlier in 2016 in the Rainy Day Fund
from the state’s special COIT distribution. The
cash reserves in the county’s Rainy Day Fund should be used to pay for the
$877,320 in one-time Business Plan costs that do not recur every year.

A county-wide Local Income Tax rate increase of 25% would pay for
the $2,244,714 in recurring annual costs included in the Sheriff’s Business
Plan.Why is Sheriff Nielsen touting a 50%
Local Income Tax rate increase when all he would
need is a 25% increase to pay for all of his Business Plan (if the
Plan’s one-time costs are paid from the county’s Rainy Day Fund).

NOTE #1: The ever-escalating total cost of the all-encompassing Boone County
Sheriff 2016 Business Plan has increased in stages from $2,168,141 to $2,523,459
to $3,122,034 today. Even more
disturbing is the extent of the county-wide Local Income Tax increase that the
Sheriff is selling during his publicity campaign. Listed next are the additional
2017 tax revenues that would result from imposing the 50% Local Income Tax rate increase that Sheriff Nielsen is
touting:
$ 4,548,632 Boone County ($1,426,598 more than
the $3,122,034 Business Plan cost)
$ 3,888,358 Zionsville
$ 2,469,624 Lebanon
$ 1,664,508 Whitestown
$ 79,882 Thorntown
$ 45,864 Jamestown
$ 43,516 Advance$ 19,362 Ulen
$12,759,746 TOTALThe Sheriff wants to increase the county-wide Local
Income Tax by $12.8 million to pay for his $3.1 million Business Plan!

NOTE #2: Sheriff Nielsen stated at the September 6, 2016, Boone County
Commissioners meeting that the county’s windfall cash from his excessive Local
Income Tax rate increase ought to be used to pay for the county salary increases
that he says will be recommended in the county’s salary survey that will be
released on September 12. Look above at how much Health Insurance costs are paid
by the county – the county pays for 93% of the cost of
county employee Health Insurance. AND county employees outside the
Sheriff’s office only work 35 hours a week. These extraordinary benefits
should factor into any objective evaluation of the salary survey. It will be
surprising if a Taxpayer Friendly evaluation of the salary survey will support
the Sheriff’s assertion that his excessive Local Income Tax rate increase is needed
to give county employees a large salary increase.